Alpha:APHEELSIK

APHEELSIK ("I Feel Sick") is one of the Glyphs you can find in a game of Desktop Dungeons. When used, this Glyph inflicts Poison on an enemy monster. Initially locked and available only to the Assassin, it can become unlocked and available for all classes.

Usage

APHEELSIK is used by clicking it, and then clicking on the target monster in the dungeon. That monster will be the target of the APHEELSIK effect.

Each use of APHEELSIK costs 5 Mana, except for the Wizard for whom it costs only 4 Mana, and the Berserker for whom it costs 7.

Effect

When used on a monster, APHEELSIK will inflict that monster with the status "POISONED!". From that point on, the monster will stop regenerating its Health whenever tiles are explored.

The effect is unlimited in length, but will instantly wear off if the hero makes any Melee attack, or casts BURNDAYRAZ on any monster - including the Poisoned one. From that point on, the monster will resume regenerating Health as normal, and another use of APHEELSIK is required if you wish to Poison it again.

Monsters who are classified as "UNDEAD" are not affected by APHEELSIK. Whenever it is used on them, they will show the words "IMMUNE", and no effect occurs. However, the Mana cost for casting APHEELSIK is deducted from the Hero's Mana regardless.

Availability

For a new Player Profile, APHEELSIK is not available for use. To be able to use APHEELSIK at all, the player must unlock the Assassin class by defeating the Normal Dungeon with a Rogue.

Any game played with the Assassin will start with the APHEELSIK Glyph on the starting tile. The Assassin needs to pick it up if he intends to use it. APHEELSIK always appears when playing the Assassin class, regardless of any other factors.

Once the Normal Dungeon is beaten with an Assassin, APHEELSIK becomes fully unlocked. From that point onwards, the APHEELSIK Glyph has a chance to appear in any dungeon played, regardless of any other factors. The chance for it to appear is supposedly the same as that of other Glyphs, though this has not yet been conclusively proven.

APHEELSIK vs. Poison Attack

APHEELSIK is not the only source in the game for inflicting Poison on monsters. Items, Gods and Racial traits may bestow the effect called "Poison Attack", which has a similar function as APHEELSIK with several important differences.

As explained above, APHEELSIK is a Glyph. It is used directly on a monster, and each use will cost 5 Mana points. The monster has no chance to retaliate to APHEELSIK, so it can be cast on a monster without receiving any damage.
Note that APHEELSIK can fail when used on enemies with magic resistance. poison attack can't be blocked by "living" enemies.

Poison Attack, on the other hand, inflicts Poison on a monster only through Melee combat. While it does not cost any Mana, it triggers a counter-attack from the monster (assuming the hero hasn't doesn't outright kill it with First Strike, when available). A poison attack can't be blocked by "living" enemies.

This dissimilarity means that APHEELSIK and Poison Attack are not completely interchangeable. There will be situations where a Melee attack cannot be risked, preventing the use of Poison Attack. In other situations the Mana cost for casting APHEELSIK may be a problem in your attack plans. Therefore, having both APHEELSIK and Poison Attack is an acceptable tactic which some characters may find useful. However, since APHEELSIK takes up a Glyph slot, having both is often not the optimal solution either. This is a judgment call, which should be made depending on the specifics of the character and dungeon you are playing.

Spell Combos

BURNDAYRAZ

The BURNDAYRAZ Glyph is complementary to APHEELSIK in the same way as any attack: You can inflict Damage on a monster with BURNDAYRAZ, then cast APHEELSIK on it to ensure it doesn't regenerate while you explore for more mana. It is possible to whittle down a monster with this spell through a series of attacks followed by periods of regeneration.

Needless to say, this method is suitable primarily for characters who can amass a high Maximum Mana. The more you have, the more Fireballs you can cast before having to cast the APHEELSIK and explore. This helps conserve tiles for later exploration. The Wizard can similarly benefit from this tactic due to lower Mana costs for Glyph-use.

Normally, BURNDAYRAZ can be used to complement Melee attacks, with the finishing touch coming from APHEELSIK to make sure the monster's Health "stays put". When doing this, always try to exhaust both your Mana and Health before casting the spell - this is more efficient. Also watch out not to spend too much Mana.

If your hero is a spellcaster, try collecting BLUDTUPOWA as a third Glyph. Otherwise, BYSSEPS tends to be favorable.

HALPMEH

For more melee-combat oriented characters, especially those who specialize in prolonged combat, HALPMEH is a great low-cost combo. Such heroes will exhaust their health in an attack on a monster, then heal as much damage as possible, attack some more, and finally inflict APHEELSIK on the enemy to allow exploration and regeneration.

This works similarly to the BURNDAYRAZ combo, except here the Mana is used to enable more Melee attacks rather than directly damage the enemy. As such, even characters with high Melee attack and low Maximum Health can benefit, being granted one or two more strikes before becoming depleted.

LEMMISI

Another Glyph that works well with APHEELSIK is the exploration Glyph LEMMISI. Since APHEELSIK prevents regeneration for the monster, the tiles revealed by LEMMISI will only regenerate the hero. This is used as a "last resort", when all regular exploration has been exhausted.

Once again, depending on the specific character you're playing, you'll want to combine this with a third Glyph to make good use of the Health or Mana you gain from LEMMISI's use. Additionally, you may require a larger Mana capacity that would allow you to conserve the 8 Mana points required to cast APHEELSIK and LEMMISI in succession once your attack capabilities are depleted.

Specific Classes

Assassin

Choosing an Assassin for a dungeon will always spawn the APHEELSIK Glyph on the starting tile (see above). Assassins rely on APHEELSIK to whittle down their enemies by attacking them repeatedly, casting the spell, and then exploring some of the dungeon to regain Health and Mana for another attack on the same monster. This is their primary method for taking out bosses, as well.

The same method is used by pretty much any other character who picks up APHEELSIK once it's been unlocked, though each class will add its own twist to this method.

Gorgon

Gorgons have the innate ability of Poison Attack: each Melee attack they perform will Poison their enemies automatically. For this reason, they will find APHEELSIK to be significantly less useful than other characters.

However, as mentioned above, APHEELSIK and Poison Attack are similar but not equal. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Depending on the style used for playing the Gorgon, it may be necessary to hold on to a Glyph that can cause Poisoning without having to perform a Melee attack.

Specific targets

APHEELSIK is generally useful against all monsters except the Undead and those otherwise Resistant to Magic.

Bosses and other High-Health monsters

Monsters with plenty of health, including but not limited to Bosses, are the prime targets for APHEELSIK use. This includes monsters far above your level which most commonly possess much more Health than you can damage in a single volley of attacks. APHEELSIK is used to "freeze" their health between volleys, and thus becomes a function of available unexplored tiles.

Non-boss targets of this sort include the Dragonspawn and particularly the meatman, both of which have weaker attacks and more Health. This can be used to your advantage, as repeated attacks interspersed with APHEELSIK use will eventually whittle them down to 0 Health, while presenting little risk to yourself.

Zombies, another High-Health monster type, are not included in this category because they are Undead, and thus completely immune to the effects of APHEELSIK.

The Undead

Casting APHEELSIK on a Wraith, Zombie or Vampire will not inflict Poison on them, and thus has no effect on their Health Regeneration. It will still cost you Mana to cast the Glyph despite having no effect.

As noted below, Mystera Annur will still award you Piety points for using the Glyph on these monsters. Also, Glowing Guardian will still decrease Piety for this use.

Magic Resistant

The Golem and Goat, with their significant Magic Resistance, are poor targets for APHEELSIK. There is a chance for the spell to fail equal to the monster's Magic Resistance score. So, for instance, a Goat (with 25% Magic Resistance) will be able to resist APHEELSIK 25% of the time on average. When resisted, APHEELSIK does not inflict Poison on the monster.

As noted below, Mystera Annur will still award you Piety points for using the Glyph on these monsters. Also, Glowing Guardian will still decrease Piety for this use.

Poison Attackers

Some monsters possess the Poison Attack ability, which is similar to APHEELSIK in function (see above). This includes the Serpent and the Bandit.

The problem with attacking these monsters is that they will render the point of using APHEELSIK moot for melee-oriented classes. You can Poison the monster after your attack, but since you are also poisoned, exploration will not regenerate the monster's Health but also your own. Therefore, you gain little to no advantage exploring in the downtime after the first attack volley.

For spellcasters this is less of an issue, at least with Serpents: The spellcaster might not need to attack the monster in Melee combat at all, and thus never suffers the retaliatory, Poisonous attack from the monster. Less heavy spellcasters may perform the Melee attack, be poisoned as a result, cast the poison on the monster, and then explore purely for additional Mana (which is not frozen by the monster's Poison Attack) to cast a few more fireballs. This obviously does not work against Bandits, who will also burn your Mana and render you unable to regenerate anything during the downtime unless potions are imbibed.

Naturally, the HALPMEH Glyph may solve some of the problem, as it allows you to swiftly remove the poison before starting to recuperate in the downtime. Another obvious solution is Immunity to Poison and/or Mana Burn, either of which is usually not too tricky to acquire in some way.

Heavy Hitters

APHEELSIK opens up the way to attack high-level monsters by allowing you to make several rounds of attacks on the monster, with periods of regeneration in between while the monster is Poisoned. The limit on how powerful a monster you can attack this way is normally determined by the monster's Attack Strength. If the monster can kill your hero in one hit, Poison won't do you much good.

The only exception to this rule is when holding the CYDSTEPP Glyph, or possessing the Death Protection ability. This can be used to survive that single killing blow, then inflict the Poison on the monster and regenerate all that lost Health and Mana (and if required, cast CYDSTEPP again).

Naturally, heavy spellcasters will find this issue far less problematic. Since they don't need to suffer the monster's attack at all, the limit depends more on how many unexplored tiles they can spend on Mana regeneration to defeat the monster between Fireballs.

Animated Armor

Although APHEELSIK can be cast on Animated Armor, it is largely meaningless. Animated Armor has only one hit point, and therefore cannot regenerate its Health anyway (it can't go above 1, and if it drops from 1 it will of course be dead).

The only real reason to cast APHEELSIK on Armor is to gain Piety from Mystera Annur or Tikki Tooki. Of course, this is usually pointless as well, since there are probably other monsters around on whom it may be cast - and for actual effect.

APHEELSIK and the Gods

Several Gods in the game have various opinions about the use of APHEELSIK - they may favour it or reject it, depending on their own particular creeds.

Glowing Guardian

Being averse to underhanded combat tactics, using APHEELSIK while worshipping Glowing Guardian is considered a Travesty. It will reduce your Piety by 10 points for each time you target a monster with this Glyph.

In addition, Glowing Guardian will disable the power of this Glyph entirely while under his faith, so there is really no use to activating it whatsoever. If used anyway, the Glyph will still cost Mana to use, but have no effect on any monster.

Tikki Tooki

Tooki, on the other hand, adored trickery and will award you 1 Piety point for each successful use of APHEELSIK on any monster. If the Glyph has failed to poison to monster, either due to Undead status (Wraith, Zombie, Vampire) or Magical Resistance (Golem, Goat), Tikki Tooki will not award you Piety points.

Mystera Annur

Mystera Annur awards 1 Piety point for any use of any Glyph, and that naturally includes APHEELSIK. If you have acquired the "Faith" boon, each use of APHEELSIK or any other Glyph will award you 2 Piety points instead.

In addition, Mystera will still award you the extra Piety point(s) if casting Poison unsuccessfully on a monster (Undead or Resistant). However, the use of the Glyph will still cost Mana as normal.

Taurog

As with any other Glyph, Taurog will penalize you -5 Piety points every time you use APHEELSIK, whether or not it was successfully cast.

Binlor Ironshield

Binlor is also averse to the use of spells, and will inflict a penalty of -1 Piety point per each use of APHEELSIK, as with all other Glyphs (except ENDISWAL).